


Shackled In My Embrace

by wishfulwannabe



Series: now i know what i have found [1]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: AU, F/M, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 14:27:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14166858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wishfulwannabe/pseuds/wishfulwannabe
Summary: She vows to herself when she’s driving home and she hears the songLatchby Sam Smith play through the stereo. When she calls Scott and asks if he can mash up the songs together. When she arrives at her house and thinks about the little girl who fell asleep in her lap earlier. She vows to be everything she can be for the two newest people in her life.ORAn AU where Scott is Tessa's skating coach.





	1. the before.

**Author's Note:**

> HOLY SHIT Y'ALL I FUCKING DID IT!!!!!!  
> I banged out this fic in the span of three days and I CANNOT believe I did so. I'm not lying to you when I say I straight up cried when I finished editing it. This has become my baby and I've fallen so deeply in love with it. I want to give a huge shout out to my hype girl Sarah (feliciting) for being so amazing whenever I message her about my fics. I truly hope you all fall in love with this the same way I have. Much love to everyone xoxo.  
> (find me on tumblr: wishfulwannabe)

It’s been two years and she’s missed competing more than anything in the entire world. She’s missed the feel of her blades on the ice, the wind whipping through her hair as her partner flings her around in the air. She’s missed the nerves and the heartache and the pride. She’s missed skating.

So when she calls up Andrew and asks him to meet her in London for coffee, she has a plan of what she wants to say.

“Tess!” Andrew yells as he walks in the door and immediately pulls her into a hug when he reaches the table she’s sitting at. 

“Have you grown?” she looks Andrew up and down. 

He laughs. “I think you’ve shrunk.”

Tessa scoffs and sits back down at the table. Grabs her mug of coffee and holds it tightly in her hands. It warms her, brings her a sense of comfort.

“I miss skating,” and ok apparently she is jumping right into it. “I mean, uh.Yeah.”

Andrew smiles at her and brushes his fingers along the back of her hand that’s still resting on her cup. “Me too, Tess.”

“So you-”

She doesn’t even have to finish before he’s nodding. “I want to skate again. With you. If that’s what you want?”

She nods her head up and down so fast she thinks it’s going to roll off of her shoulders. “Yes. Yeah, that’s exactly what I want.”

Andrew grins, chuckles low and deep. She’s so content. So happy he’s on the same wavelength as her. He usually is, but this is a big decision. One that she isn’t making lightly and she hopes he isn’t either. 

“We can’t go back to Canton,” she has to say it. Tessa absolutely cannot go back to Marina. Not after she practically threw them aside in Sochi. She still has a bitter taste in her mouth every time she looks at the silver medal on her dresser. 

“I know,” Andrew speaks low. He still feels bad that he didn’t believe Tessa in late 2013 when she noticed Marina paying more attention to other teams. “I heard that Marie-France and Patrice have a good thing going in Montreal.”

“I’ve heard that too,” Tessa says. “Maybe we could call them?”

Andrew hums and nods his head.

It’s an hour later when they’re back in her house. Andrew’s always hated how everything is so white and pristine but she could honestly care less about what he thinks. He’s not the one living in it.

“Are we sure about this?” Andrew asks Tess from where he’s sat on the couch opposite her. “We made this decision, like, an hour ago.”

Tessa sighs. “I made this decision months ago.”

Andrew grins. “Me too.”

Tessa sets the phone on the glass table between them, presses the speaker button and listens to the dial tone. 

“Hello?” Marie-France’s voice is so sharp, like a whip, and it reminds her a little bit of Marina.

“Marie?” Andrew speaks up. “It’s Andrew Poje and Tessa Virtue.”

There’s a pause. Then, “Oh my goodness, hello you two!” her voice is calmer now, this light tone that sends warmth through Tessa’s entire body. “How are you?”

“Good, how are you, Marie?” Tessa speaks up and genuinely cares about how Marie is doing. Wants to know all about her and Patch and their school and their daughter and everything.

The thing is that Patch and Marie have always been people they’ve looked up to. When they didn’t make it to Turin, Andrew and her watched the games closely. Felt this deep heartbreak when Marie fell and couldn’t keep competing. Tessa knows what it’s like to suffer an injury and devastating is about the only word she can think of.

“Je suis magnifique,” Marie’s accent is so heavy but so welcome. “Not that I don’t love hearing from you two, but what is the reason for your call?”

Tessa looks at Andrew. Stares at him and they really should have thought this out before pressing the contact information for _Marie-France Dubreil_. “We, uh. We want to come back to competition,” Tessa’s voice is hoarse like she is holding back from saying the statement out loud. “And we were wondering if we could come to Gadbois?”

It’s quiet on the other end of the line. There’s a bit of shuffling and Andrew looks at Tessa with a confused expression. “Patch! Vien ici!” it’s muffled, like Marie’s put her hand over the phone. A beat later they hear “C’est Tessa et Andrew. Ils veulent rejoinder notre école.”

“Tessa! Andrew!” Patch’s voice rings through the phone. “Comment ca va?”

“Ca va, Patch,” Tessa smiles at her phone like Patch can actually see her. “Hope we aren’t interrupting anything.”

“No, no, no!” Patch rushes out. “So I hear you want to come to Gadbois?”

“Yeah, Patchy,” Andrew speaks up for the first time in a while. For a moment Tessa thought he was changing his mind. “If there’s room for us.”

There’s shuffling again on the other end, muffled voices speaking rapidly in French. Tessa has to laugh at how ridiculous this all is. 

“Here’s the thing,” Marie is speaking clearly into the phone and Tessa’s stomach sinks. They can’t take them on. “We want you here, but we cannot be your full time coaches. There’s too many skaters here now.”

“Oh,” Andrew says quietly and his disappointment is so heavily mirrored in Tessa’s own chest. “That’s okay.”

“Marie, jeez,” Patch says and Tessa can imagine him snatching the phone from Marie’s hands. “Lead with the good stuff, oui? Ok you two. We have a new coach who has come in recently. From around your area actually, Miss Tessa. He’s genius, so good with a blade and with the dancing.”

Tessa thinks about it, rolls the idea around in her head. She can’t go back to Michigan. Absolutely not. She looks at Andrew. They’ve always been able to tell what each other needs just from the blink of an eye and she’s so grateful for that in this moment. 

“Would we be able to meet with him? Maybe get a few practices in?” Tessa asks. 

“Yes, of course my dear,” Patch says. “When were you thinking?”

Tessa looks at Andrew briefly. He shrugs. “Next week?”

“Perfect! See you on Monday?” Marie says and it seems that they’ve finally discovered what speaker phone is.

“Yes!” and Tessa can’t hold in her excitement anymore. “See you then!”

The phone call ends and Tessa just stares at Andrew. A smile slowly creeps on his face and she can’t help but jump up from the couch and leap into his open arms.

“We’re going to skate again!” and she feels like a high school girl whose just been asked out to prom but she doesn’t care.

She’s got Andrew and he’s got her and they have each other. And they’re going to skate again.

~

Monday creeps up on her faster than she thinks it will. Tessa packs too many clothes and she knows she does but can’t actually bring herself to care much. The excitement of getting back on the ice seeps into her veins like syrup. 

She meets Andrew at the train station. It’s 5 AM and Tess hasn’t been awake this early in months. She’s so thankful for the coffee he holds out to her.

“You’re my favourite,” she says before taking a long sip from the cup. It’s hot and burns on the way down but it’s a welcome warmth. “Do you have the tickets?”

“Uh,” he freezes.

Tessa laughs and reaches into her purse, pulls out two matching pieces of paper with their boarding passes printed on the front. “Kidding!”

Andrew groans. “I lied. I don’t want to skate with you again. All you do is play jokes on me.”

“Oh, don’t be such a kid,” she pulls on his arm and they walk to their platform together.

It’s not until they’re on the train, seated across from each other (Tessa’s back facing the front of the train because Andrew always gets sick if he does) that they speak to each other about their plans.

“What if he’s an awful coach?” Tessa speaks up.

Andrew flicks his eyes up from the magazine he’s been reading to look at her. “Or worse. What if he’s attractive?”

She scoffs. “You’re an idiot,” but she doesn’t really mean it. Andrew’s the smartest person she knows, every move he makes and action he decides is calculated. She thinks that’s why she likes him so much, why they’ve worked so well together for 18 years. “But really. What are we going to do if it’s not a good fit?”

Andrew pauses at her question. Bites his lip and looks down at his hands holding the stupid magazine that VIA rail has provided for them. “I guess we’ll have to go back to Canton.”

“No,” Tessa immediately replies. “I can’t go back Andrew, you know I can’t. They just-”

“Okay Tess,” Andrew reaches out and grabs her hand, runs his thumb along her knuckles to sooth her. “We won’t go back there.”

She looks at him. Challenging. “Promise?”

He drops her hand and holds out his pinky. “Promise,” and it’s like they’re seven and nine again, clasping pinkies and promising the world to each other. 

~

“Tessa!” Marie-France sees her from across the rink and immediately skates over to the boards. “My love!”

Tessa steps towards the empty spot in the boards and meets Marie in a hug. “I’ve missed you,” Tessa mumbles into Marie’s scarf. 

“Moi aussi, ma cherie,” Marie squeezes her tightly.

“Wow, I really love this greeting I’m receiving,” Andrew speaks up from behind them and his voice is laced with sarcasm.

Marie pulls away from Tessa and hits Andrew lightly on the arm. “Oh hush, you boy.” She hugs him nonetheless.

“Is that my favourite Canadian ice dancers I hear?” Tessa turns to see Patrice walking out from a long hallway. “I can say that because you’re the only ones here.”

Tessa snorts. “Okay, Patch,” and she fits herself into his arms. He smells good. She makes a mental note to ask him later what cologne he uses so she can get some for Andrew.

“We are so happy that you two are here,” Patrice says as he lets go of Tessa. 

She smiles and looks past Patrice’s right shoulder, down the hallway where he just came from. There’s a man walking towards them and Tessa inhales sharply. He’s attractive. Not in the regular conventional way that Tessa usually likes. But she can tell that he oozes confidence. It’s in the way that he walks and holds his head up. The way that he smiles and waves at a skater passing by. She bites her lip, hard, to keep herself from doing something stupid.

“Scott!” Tessa is pulled out of her thoughts by Marie yelling. “Come here.”

The man Tessa’s been watching looks at Marie and saunters over to the group. Tessa has to remind herself to breathe. And it’s ridiculous because she doesn’t even know this man but she’s already enamoured by him.

Patch places his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Scott, this is Tessa and Andrew. Tessa and Andrew, this is Scott. You’re new coach.”

And no. No, no, no. It can’t be. No way is the man that Tessa’s sort-of-kind-of fallen in love with at first sight their new coach. “No,” she says it out loud and immediately clasps her hand over her mouth.

“Tess,” Andrew seethes beside her.

“Sorry, I mean, uh-”

“I’m offended,” the man, Scott, speaks and his voice shouldn’t sound like Tessa’s favourite song but it does. He’s smiling and she wants to disappear. “You haven’t even seen me on the ice yet.”

Tessa shakes her head. “Sorry. That’s not what I meant. I was just, uh, a bit distracted,” and she maybe hates herself for admitting that out loud. 

“We’ll have to fix that,” Scott smirks and Tessa thinks that as long as Scott’s looking at her like that there’s no way she won’t be distracted.

~

“What is the reason you two are coming back to skating?” Scott asks Tessa and Andrew. All three of them are on the ice, skates laced on their feet and mittens pulled over their hands. Except Scott’s. His hands are bare and lovely looking. Tessa actually has to shake her head. 

“We missed skating,” Andrew answers for the both of them. Tessa nods.

Scott pauses for a moment. “That’s not what I want you to think.”

Wait. “What?” Tessa asks and what is he talking about. “That’s the reason, though.”

“I want the reason that you two came back to skating to be for each other. You’ve been to two Olympics already, correct?” Scott asks. Tessa and Andrew nod. “This one will be different. You need to connect with each other. I’ve watched your videos and that’s your biggest downfall.”

“Wait a second,” Tessa’s about to defend herself when Scott throw a look at her. She’s not sure what it means but it shuts her up.

“If you want me to be your coach, I need to challenge you,” Scott digs his toe pick into the ice and it’s kind of driving Tessa wild. “You two need to have this raw connection. Ice dancing isn’t just about the technique.”

Andrew hums. “How are we supposed to just change how we feel?”

Scott smiles. “It’s not about changing how you feel. It’s about changing how you think.”

And it’s so fucking cryptic that Tessa wants to lose her mind. She’s smart, can admit her intelligence. But she doesn’t understand Scott’s thought process.

Scott picks up on their confusion. He grabs Tessa’s hand and pulls her in. She squeaks at the sudden motion, at the fact that her face is so close to Scott’s that she can feel his breath hit her mouth. It’s a lot, if she’s honest. 

“Watch,” Scott says and it’s low and deep. He grabs her face and holds her forehead to his. She’s breathless, can’t do anything but accept Scott’s touch.

Tessa breathes in deep and Scott follows. Soon their breathing is in synchronization and she feels this sense of calm wash over her. She opens her eyes and finds Scott staring deep into her eyes. Her stomach flips and she has to grip Scott’s sides to ground herself.

“Woah,” Andrew whispers beside them.

Tessa is broken from her trance and backs away from Scott. She glances to see Andrew staring at her in disbelief. “Okay, I see what you mean,” she says and Scott smirks like he’s won something.

“Good. Let’s practice that.”

So Tessa grabs Andrew’s sides and he grips her face and they sync their breathing. She opens her eyes and looks at him. But it’s not Scott. Doesn’t feel like electricity is running through her at 1000 volts. Doesn’t feel like he’s somehow holding her up and keeping her breathing. She doesn’t like that.

~

They’ve been in Montreal for a week now. The training has been… interesting. Andrew hasn’t taken quite the liking to Scott’s personality. His coaching is unorthodox and unlike anything the pair has ever experienced. With Marina everything was straight forward and clean cut. Scott digs deeper. 

“I don’t know, Tess,” Andrew sighs when Tessa brings up whether or not they should stay with Scott. “He’s just. He gets on my nerves?”

“Because he makes you better?” Tessa fires back and she doesn’t know why she’s so defensive. She’s known Andrew for 17 years and Scott for one whole week. “Andrew. I’m not going back to Canton.”

“I know,” Andrew says. “You’ve said it I don’t know how many times.”

He stands up from the couch and starts to pace the room. Tessa stays sitting, bites her lip and plays with her fingers in her lap. “He’s good, Andrew. Like, really good. It just seems like he gets us and knows what we need to work on.”

“We have a fucking Olympic gold medal.”

“And our latest is silver,” Tessa snaps. “We lost.”

Andrew pauses in the middle of the room. His back is towards her and she just wishes that he’d turn to look at her. Needs to see what he’s thinking. “I know,” he whispers and Tessa knows the topic is still a hard one to swallow.

She stands up and walks towards Andrew. Wraps her arms around him and puts her forehead on his back. They breathe together like it’s second nature. “Please, Andy.”

Andrew breathes in deeply. “Okay.”

~

The move to Montreal is quick. Tessa gets help from her mom in London. Packs up the entirety of her life into one car (posts it on social media, too) and drives the good twelve hours to her new home. Andrew and her get separate apartments in the same building. It’s easy like that.

“Knock, knock,” a voice speaks up from where her door is open. Tessa turns around and sees Andrew smiling in the hallway, holding a bouquet of flowers. “Thought you’d like some of these.”

Tessa smiles and walks over to take the flowers from him. She breathes in the smell of them. “These are wonderful. Thank you,” she pulls him into a hug and he wraps her up easily.

“How was the drive?” Andrew asks her. He came down a few days earlier to move all of his stuff in.

Tessa shrugs. “Good,” she says from the kitchen where she’s looking around for a vase to put the bouquet in.

“We’re going into the rink tomorrow, right?” Andrew asks. He’s settled himself on her white sofa.

She thinks for a moment. Goes through their schedule in her head. The thing about Tessa is that she meticulously plans out everything. She thinks that you can’t be an athlete without doing so. Her days from the moment she wakes up to the moment she goes to bed are penciled in a planner she keeps in her bag. It’s not a bad thing. She likes the scheduling, likes knowing what she’s doing and where she needs to be and when she needs to be there. Andrew is the same way.

Maybe that’s also one of the reasons she wanted to come back to skating. The structure. Sure she’s missed the ice like mad and has missed the feel of competition, but she likes this as well.

“Yeah,” Tessa responds.

Andrew waves her over to the couch. She settles easily beside him, snuggles into his open arms. “I really am not excited to go back to mister _I’m the greatest coach of my generation_.”

Tessa smacks Andrew’s chest lightly. “Oh stop it. He’s great,” and she’s been doing that a lot lately. Defending Scott. She knows nothing about him. Well, she knows a little bit. Shamelessly Googled his name the second night they were in Montreal last. Discovered he too used to be an ice dancer, but his partner unfortunately outgrew him. He’s been coaching for the past 5 years, just moved to Gadbois a year ago. There wasn’t much about his personal life but there were many pictures. If Tessa stared at one of him shirtless on a beach for a little longer than she should have, well. No one has to know.

“We’ll see,” Andrew scoffs. “Wanna watch a movie?” and of course she does.

~

Her alarm goes off the next morning at exactly 4:45AM. She wants to die. Groans and rolls over in bed. The alarm doesn’t stop though, keeps buzzing obnoxiously and Tessa reminds herself that she signed up for this. She wanted to come back to competition more than she wanted to breathe.

So she gets up, forces herself from the warm sheets. Goes through the stages of the morning. Wash face. Get dressed. Brush teeth. Pack bag. Make smoothie. Grab car keys. Drive to the rink.

Andrew laughs when he sees her in the parking lot. She growls. “Morning, Sleeping Beauty.”

“Fuck off,” Tessa grits between her teeth. She is still struggling to keep her eyes open and she can’t handle Andrew’s teasing this early in the morning.

The rink is busier than she expected. Tessa thought there may be a few teams here and there, a couple single skaters. But the rink is full. Well, not completely full. Her judgement is probably impaired seeing as the sun hasn’t even woken up yet.

“There are my stars,” Marie-France greets them when they walk through the door. Tessa smiles and pulls her into a hug. “Scott’s just running a bit late.”

Andrew scoffs beside her. “Of course he is,” he mumbles. Tessa nudges him with her shoulder.

“Hi, so sorry I’m late!” and speaking of Scott. He’s rushing into the rink and dragging behind him a… kid? “She hates mornings,” he says gesturing to the girl behind him.

“Me too,” Tessa says before she can think of filtering herself. 

The girl is small. Tessa would guess probably around three or four years old. She has long brown hair pulled into a ponytail and a sharp chin. Wrapped in a pink jacket and big boots Tessa thinks she could poke her and she’d fall over, the girl is so bundled. Not that Tessa would do that, though.

“I’ll meet you on the ice?” Scott looks at her and Andrew. They both nod.

Tessa laces up her skates in the change room quickly. The whole time, the image of the little girl races in her mind. There are so many options of who she may be. She could be a skater that Scott brings to the rink. She could be his niece or his cousin. She could be the daughter of one of the other skaters. Or she could be his. That thought stings the most for some reason she’s not going to delve into this early.

When she arrives at the boards, sliding her guards off easily, Scott’s in the middle of the ice with the girl. She is now sporting little white skates that kind of melt Tessa’s heart. Instead of a hot pink winter coat, she’s wearing a baby blue fuzzy sweater, black mittens covering her tiny hands. She’s not slipping or sliding. She’s actually moving around in little circles quite gracefully. For a four year old.

“Hey,” Tessa greets Scott and the girl once she skates near them. 

Scott smiles at her and nods his head once. Before he can say anything Andrew skates up behind her, wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her in. “Let’s get started, yeah?”

Scott nods and tells them to skate a few laps around the ice to warm up. Andrew grabs her hand and pulls her along. Tessa can’t help but watch Scott and the girl. He kneels down and speaks to her, smiling the whole time. He tickles her tummy and she laughs and it’s such a beautiful sound. He points to a spot along the boards and the girls skates over to where he gestures, wobbles slightly on her blades.

“Who do you think she is?” Tessa asks Andrew, her eyes still on the girl.

Andrew shrugs. “Probably had a one night stand and it’s his _oopsie_ baby.”

“Andrew!” Tessa gasps. “Don’t say shit like that.”

He just smirks and continues to skate around the rink. Briefly after, Scott waves them over from where he’s in the middle of the ice.

“I want to work on your curve lifts today,” Scott says to them. “If that’s okay?” and Tessa notices that he’s softer today. The previous week they had been in Montreal he was all loud voice and stern instructions. Now he’s asking them what they want to do. She wonders if he was putting on a show for them in order to get them to come back. But she also thinks the small girl skating slowly along the boards may have something to do with it.

~

The practice is pretty successful, if Tessa is honest. They nail their lift by the end of it. She notices how observant Scott is. With all of their other coaches, they usually watch a few videos and pick out little things here and there to improve on. But with Scott he’s so keen. He can point out something they need to work on without watching anything back. And he has this way of explaining things that make so much sense. How she should pull her leg up just a tad more. How Andrew should move his hand down her leg to grip on easier. It all makes sense to her.

What still doesn’t make sense to her is the girl who stays by the boards the whole practice. Tessa looks at her a few times during their skate. She’s cute, is the thing. An adorable little girl who is so well behaved. And she’s good at skating, too. Tessa catches her spinning a couple times. Each time she would land both feet on the ice Tess would catch the small smile on her face.

Tessa’s in the change room unlacing her skates when the little girl enters. It’s just the two of them in there. The girl looks around for a bench to sit on. She has this small purple bag with her and Tessa assumes it’s for her skates.

“Hi,” the little girl says to Tessa from where she’s decided to sit on the bench across from her.

“Hello,” Tessa responds. “I saw you skating today. You’re really good.”

The girl smiles so big and it warms Tessa’s heart. “Thank you,” she says shyly and it’s so cute.

“What’s your name?” Tessa asks. She hopes she’s not pushing any boundaries.

“Elora. But everyone calls me Ellie,” the girl, Ellie, says. 

Tessa smiles. “I’m Tessa, but people call me Tess.”

“I know,” the girls speaks as she starts pulling at her laces.

Tessa inhales sharply. How does she know what her name is? Does Scott talk about her? And if Scott is talking to this girl about her, Ellie must be someone important to him, no?

She watches Ellie attempt to pull at her laces. She bites her lip and sticks her tongue out in concentration. Tessa sees her huff out in frustration, has to hold in a giggle watching her small hands struggle.

“Want some help?” Tessa asks. She already has her skates off and tucked away in her bag.

Ellie looks up at her shyly. “Sure,” she sticks her foot out. Tessa laughs softly and kneels in front of the girl. “Usually I do it myself but I didn’t have time today. I was sleepy.”

“Me too,” Tessa smiles, unlaces the skates easily. They’re tied tightly and it’s clear that an adult did this.

Tessa finishes taking her skates off and helps put them away in Ellie’s bag. “Thank you, Tess,” Ellie says so politely. Tessa can’t help but grin up at her.

“Of course, darling.”

The two walk out of the change room together, Ellie talking about her favourite moves on the ice. She’s knowledgeable, knows what an axel is and a curve lift and twizzles. Her tongue struggles around the pronunciation of the last word.

Scott’s standing outside of the room on his phone, his own skates off and a bag slung over his shoulder. He’s got Ellie’s pink coat from earlier draped over his arm.

“Daddy!” Ellie shouts and Scott’s head shoots up. He smiles immediately and holds his arms open, Ellie running into them easily. “Tess helped me take my skates off. You tied them too tight.”

And what? _Daddy_. Tessa freezes and stands in the hallway, watches the exchange between the two of them. A dad and his daughter. Her stomach clenches and she has to hold tightly onto the strap of her bag to ground herself. 

Scott looks up at her from where he’s knelt on the ground with Ellie, _his daughter_ , still in his arms. He mouths a thank you to Tessa and she smiles, nods her head once. 

“Alright, El. Let’s get going, you have school,” Scott stands up and grabs onto Ellie’s hand.

They’re halfway down the hallway, Tessa still watching them, when Ellie stops her dad. She turns around and runs up to Tessa, wraps her arms around Tessa’s legs and hugs her tight. Tess laughs in shock and hugs her back.

“Thank you,” Ellie says, clinging onto Tess. “For helping me.”

“You’re welcome,” Tessa responds.

Ellie pulls away and grins up at her, waves, and then runs back to Scott’s awaiting hand held out for her.

Tessa feels a hand grip the back of her neck. “You best friends with a four year old now?” Andrew’s voice is low in her ear. She shivers.

“Apparently I’m best friends with our coaches daughter now,” Tessa states blandly, like her insides aren’t stirring.

“Ha!” Andrew yells and jumps in front of Tess. He points his finger in her face, says “I told you so,” in such a condescending tone that Tessa swats his hand out of her face.

“Shut up.”

~

Their week of training is good. They tackle almost every technical element they have to incorporate into the upcoming season. Scott is meticulous. Makes sure they don’t move on until they nail each one. Tessa likes that. With Marina she would get frustrated easily, would force them to move onto something else. Tess thinks maybe that’s because Marina didn’t like watching failure. Scott does. Says they need to fail in order to learn how to be better. It’s cheesy and sounds like he’s coaching a couple of teenagers rather than a 26 and 28 year old. 

Andrew still doesn’t like him, but his respect for him has increased. Tessa’s noticed him listening intently to what Scott has to say, following along with instructions and critiques. They talk about it one night. Tess gets Andrew to admit that Scott’s good at what he does. That he knows what he’s doing. 

There’s a couple of things that mess Tessa up though.

The first is being in Montreal. It’s beautiful, she can’t lie about that. But there’s people speaking French everywhere. It’s not like she’s annoyed, she gets it. She’s in their territory, she has no right to want them to speak English. But it’s difficult, something to get used to. And on top of coming back to competition and getting used to the schedule of an athlete again, having her new environment to add to that is a struggle.

Second is having Scott as her coach. But then again, having him is amazing. He’s perfect for them, exactly what they need at this moment. What messes her up is the territory of him being their coach. How sometimes he has to pull Tessa in to show Andrew how to exactly touch her to _convey the character’s emotions_. How he lifts her up so easily. How sometimes if feels like he’s been her skating partner for 17 years and not Andrew.

It also messes her up how much she likes feeling Scott’s hands on her. How she inhales sharply every time he brushes his palms up her thighs or her sides. His hands always feel hot on her skin. She wears layers, but her skin somehow always burns where he leaves his mark.

It messes her up how kind Scott is. How he is so aware of not only their skating but also their own personal wellbeing. She thinks about earlier in the week when she over exerted herself in her daily workout. The surgeries helped her legs, allowed her to skate again. But they still hurt sometimes, still send a shooting pain through her bones whenever she works herself too hard or too long. Tuesday is no different.

Scott notices her wince when Andrew places her down after their rotational lift. He skates over to her and places his hand on her lower back. Sometimes it feels like her back has a groove carved out of it where Scott’s hand perfectly fits. Sometimes she tries to ignore that. Most times she fails.

“You okay?” Scott whispers in her ear. Andrew has skated away from them, is now twisting into a twizzle.

She nods. “Yeah. Just pushed myself too hard this morning I guess.”

“Do you wanna take a break?” Scott asks and it’s so sincere Tessa doesn’t know what to do with it. She shakes her head. “Sorry, I worded that as a question. You’re taking a break,” and Scott is firm with her. Somehow he knows that sometimes she needs someone to push her so she can stop pushing herself. She doesn’t know how he knows that from the two weeks they’ve spent together, but he does.

A lot of things mess Tessa up. But the thing that messes her up the most is the little girl who always seems to make her way onto the ice with Scott. Her tiny hand clasped in his. Ellie is adorable. She’s the kindest four year old Tessa has ever met. Sometimes Scott holds her hand while he’s watching Tessa and Andrew. Sometimes Ellie will tell Tessa that her spins were good or that her hair looks pretty in a braid. One day she tells Tessa that she wishes her daddy knew how to do that to her hair. That same day when Tessa left the change room, she had a grinning Ellie with a French brain pulled into her hair following closely behind.

The thing about Ellie is that she never talks about her mom. And Ellie talks a lot. She talks about school and her favourite colours and the dinosaurs she read about in a book the other day. Well, _she_ didn’t read it. Scott read it to her but she could tell you the names of all the different dinos littering the pages. But there’s never a mention of the woman who Ellie belongs to. Scott doesn’t talk about it. For some reason, Ellie is like a dirty little secret that he never really elaborates on.

Then again, Scott is her coach. He doesn’t owe her anything about his life. All he owes her is skating tips and availability so she can improve as an athlete. She doesn’t need to know about Ellie or him or his possible wife or girlfriend or whatever. Tessa doesn’t need to know. But fuck it all if she doesn’t want to.

~

Tessa gets to the rink early the next week. She’s not feeling the greatest, stayed up the night before talking to Jordan about anything and everything. Andrew’s not feeling good either, messaged her and Scott the night before that the flu hit him harder than he originally thought. But she still shows up because Scott told her to and she assumes that he’ll just substitute for Andrew.

Tessa’s correct when she gets onto the ice and Scott’s spinning in the middle of the rink with Ellie in his arms. She’s laughing in that girlish way, a scream escaping when Scott throws her up a bit and catches her when she comes back down. Tess wants to yell. Wants to pull her hair out because of the emotions running through her.

“I guess you’ve found yourself a partner,” Tessa says when she approaches the two.

“I’m the best partner!” Ellie shouts and continues to giggle once Scott lets her down.

He tells Ellie to go wait by the boards where she usually does. Tessa wonders if she ever gets bored. Sometimes she’ll catch Ellie drawing smiley faces and hearts into the ice with her toe pick. Sometimes she sees her spin and stumble a bit before catching herself on the boards. In those moments Scott immediately flips his head to look at her. It’s like she’s got a string that he’s attached to, like he can tell every time she trips just a bit. Ellie always smiles at him sheepishly and Scott just chuckles and shakes his head. Tessa’s not jealous. Nope.

“Okay,” Scott clears his throat once Ellie is off to the side. He’s looking at Tessa and she’s pretty sure her cheeks heat up. Thank god she can blame it on the cold of the ice. “I’m thinking of practicing the rotational lift today.”

And fuck. The rotational lift. The one where Tessa will be flipping into his arms and wrapping her legs around his shoulders. The one that mimics something that should really be left in the bedroom.

Marie was the one who originally suggested they do it. She helped Scott iron out the kinks and mechanics of the whole thing. Andrew was excited to try something so daring. Tessa was too, don’t get her wrong. She just hates the way Scott looks at her once Andrew puts her back down.

“Yep,” Tessa squeaks out and coughs to clear her throat.

Scott skates towards her and grabs her hands. They skate around a bit, getting speed and leading into the lift. He nods at her and lets her go. She turns around and skates backwards, winds her arms up and flips back. It took her so many attempts to trust herself doing this lift with Andrew. She tries not to think about how she doesn’t even second guess herself with Scott.

He holds onto her easily, his hands latching onto her hips and holding her tightly against him. What freaks her out is that she can feel him breathe against her. He huffs out air and it drives her absolutely wild. 

“Wait, wait!” Tessa is frantic, basically shouts and Scott quickly sets her down.

She skates away from him, doesn’t even look in his direction once she’s got two feet back on the ice. Fuck. She’s really fucked up now.

Tessa’s head isn’t working right at all. Is muddled and confused and maybe it’s her sex drive kicking in and telling her to go jump on Scott _right now_ but she can’t. Because he’s her coach and they’re in the middle of an ice rink and his fucking daughter is right there.

“Tess?” speaking of his daughter. Tessa turns around to see Ellie looking up at her and Tessa thinks she’s crying. “Are you okay?”

Tessa breathes in deeply. Puts on a brave face and smiles. “Yeah.”

“Please don’t leave,” Ellie mumbles and yeah she is crying. A tear slips down her cheek and Tessa is pretty sure her heart breaks a little bit.

Tess kneels down onto the ice and pulls Ellie into a hug. “Who said I was leaving?” she feels Elora shrug in her arms. “I’m not going anywhere, love.”

Ellie pulls away and Tessa wipes her thumbs along her cheeks to clear away the tears.

“Elora,” Scott speaks up from where he’s standing behind Ellie. She turns to look at her dad. He holds his hand out and she dutifully skates towards him and grabs it. “Come on,” he leads her off the ice and helps her put her guards back on.

Tessa waits for Scott by the boards, watches as he helps Elora settle on the bench and hands her a colouring book from his bag. He kisses Ellie on the head and she smiles up at him. Scott skates towards Tess slowly, like he may frighten her if he approaches too quickly or closely. She hates that she’s done that to him.

“Scott, I’m fine,” she voices her feelings. “Just tweaked my leg weirdly,” it’s a lie but it’s better than telling the truth. Better than telling him that he just turned her on so much that she can’t decide whether to scream in frustration or take him to bed.

He sighs. “I’m sorry. I thought, I don’t know, I-”

“I’m fine,” she smiles at Scott, can’t stand watching him stutter around the words stuck in his mouth. He reaches out for her and brushes his fingers along her arm. She coughs and he pulls his hand back like she’s burned him. Really, it’s the other way around.

“We should maybe keep practicing,” Scott says. It’s low and cautious and stirs something inside of her.

She says “Yeah,” if only to have an excuse to grab his hand and hold on tight.

~

It’s the next day when she’s woken up by her phone ringing instead of her usual alarm.

“Hello?” she answers and her voice is so raspy it pains her.

“Tess?” Scott’s voice rings through the phone and it sounds panicked. She immediately sits up in bed, clues into the time of day (morning) and the way he says her name. “Did I wake you? I’m sorry, I-”

“Scott it’s okay,” she cuts him off in a soothing voice, knows that’s probably what he needs through his ramblings. “What’s wrong?”

He sighs on the other end. “It’s Ellie,” Tessa’s stomach sinks. “She’s got the flu and I have no one to watch her and I can’t bring her to the rink like this.”

“Scott, it’s okay,” she says it again so he knows. Is aware that she is fine and he is fine and Ellie is fine. Or at least she will be.

“I know we were supposed to pick music today,” and oh yeah. She always has loved going through songs, picturing in her mind what she likes the best and what character’s she can act out with her body on the ice. “Maybe, uh. Maybe you could come over? We could still listen to stuff.”

Tessa’s heart speeds up. She’s never been to his house and the prospect of doing so gets her blood pumping. It’s like he is allowing her into a small part of his life that he hasn’t shown her yet. There’s something so special about it that she’s unable to place. 

“Yeah, uh, that’s fine,” Tessa finally answers through the phone. “Andrew is still out sick but he said he doesn’t care what song we pick.”

Andrew and her got into an agreement when they were younger. She was 9 and he was 11 and they danced to some stupid song that she absolutely hated but he loved. He promised her that next season she could pick the music. It’s been like that ever since. One season Tessa will pick and the next Andrew will. It’s somewhat like compromise, she guesses.

“Okay,” Scott says through the phone. “I’ll text you my address.”

“See you soon,” Tessa responds and hangs up. Can’t wipe the smile from her face even if she tried.

She guesses she doesn’t need her gym bag so she leaves it behind. It’s when she’s on her way out the door that her eye catches the stuffed triceratops sitting on her front bench. It’s stupid, is what it is. Tess was in the grocery store the other day and saw the thing staring at her. She remembered Ellie saying that it was her favourite dinosaur. Tessa swooned when El stumbled over the pronunciation of the name. She picked up the toy and bought it without second guessing herself. Tessa wasn’t sure when she’d give it to her, if maybe she should wait a few weeks or maybe for her birthday. She feels even more stupid when she wracks her mind and comes up short with the knowledge of when Ellie’s actual birthday is.

Without a second guess she grabs the dinosaur and shoves it in her bag where her laptop, wallet, and a few other miscellaneous things lay.

The drive to Scott’s house is short. She really could have walked but it’s chilly out and the prospect of actually standing outside for longer than the five seconds it takes to get to her car is not appealing. It stirs something in her knowing that Scott’s life is so close to hers. That maybe the school she passes on the daily is Ellie’s. That maybe she’s passed him on the busy streets and not even noticed. Tess pushes the thoughts aside as she knocks on the big wooden door.

Scott opens it and he looks exhausted. There’s purple bags settling under his eyes, his t-shirt has a few stains spattered about and his socks have holes in the toes. It’s endearing, really. Warms Tessa’s heart and makes her feel a sense of home (for some reason she doesn’t want to venture too far into).

“Hi,” he breathes out and steps aside to let her through the door.

Tessa walks in and looks around. The house is so quaint it hurts. He’s got pictures everywhere. Ones of Ellie at every age, ones of him and what looks like could be his mom. Ones of him on the ice with a pretty blonde. Tess points to it and asks “Is that your old skate partner?”

Scott smiles like he’s remembering moments with her. Tessa wants to scowl and throw the picture away. “Yea, that’s Kaitlyn.”

“She’s pretty,” Tessa comments.

Scott laughs. “And tall,” he says and Tessa has to laugh as well.

“Daddy?” Tessa turns around to see little Ellie walking down the dark hallway. She’s rubbing a fist on her eye and she looks so sleepy and soft. Her eyes light up a little when she sees Tess. “Tessa!” Ellie smiles and runs to hug Tess.

She scoops Elora up into a hug, picks her up off the ground and holds her tight. “Hello, El,” Tess whispers in her ear. Puts her down and smooths the hair out of her face. “I heard you weren’t feeling so good,” and Ellie nods at Tessa’s words. “I brought something for you,” Tessa says, keeps an eye on Scott’s curious expression. 

Tessa puts her bag down on the ground from where it was looped around her shoulder. Reaches in and pulls out the orange dinosaur. Elora gasps and Tessa can’t help but smile at the girl’s shocked expression.

“For me?” Ellie asks as she cautiously reaches out to take the stuffed animal from Tessa’s hands.

Tessa nods, places the dinosaur in Ellie’s arms. She squeezes it tight, kisses it on one of the horns.

“Elora, what do you say?” Scott says from behind Tessa and he sounds out of breath.

“Thank you,” Elora hugs Tessa, the triceratops squished between them. Tessa laughs softly and hugs her back. Wraps her arms around the little girl and has this instinct to protect her from the rest of the world. From everything bad that may happen to her.

Scott clears his throat behind them. Tess looks up and sees him smiling down at his daughter fondly. “We should probably start listening to songs.”

Tess stands up from her crouched position and nods her head. Elora grabs her hand and pulls on it. “Can I help?” she asks and it’s so soft, how could Tessa ever say no?

“You need sleep, baby,” Scott says and oh. A small shock runs through her. She has no right to tell Ellie what she can and cannot do. She’s not her mother. She’s nothing. Just her dad’s skating student. That doesn’t settle so nicely in Tessa’s skin.

“Please?” Ellie pouts, opens her eyes real wide and blinks rapidly. She may only be four years old but she has the look down pat.

Scott sighs. “Fine.”

Ellie smiles and leads Tessa over to the couch in their family room. There’s a leather sectional littered with stuffed animals and plush pillows. Scott’s laptop is placed on the table in front of it, screen lit up brightly with a photo of him and Ellie skating together on the ice. She’s smaller in the picture, but the smile is so indescribably hers.

Tessa settles herself in the corner of the couch and Ellie plops herself down on Tessa’s lap. She laughs and adjusts Elora so she’s cradling her, El’s side up against Tess’ stomach, Tessa’s arm wrapping around her back and holding her tightly.

Scott looks at them for a moment, doesn’t move or say a thing. Tessa’s about to ask him what’s wrong or place Ellie to the side but he just blinks and sits down beside them.

“You’re spoiled,” he says to Ellie and the little girl just smile and settles herself tighter against Tessa’s tummy.

He pulls up iTunes and opens the search bar. “Got anything in mind?” Tessa asks.

Scott shakes his head. “Not really. I think you two could dance to The Cha Cha Slide and make it look good.” 

Tess scoffs. “Hey, don’t go trash talking The Cha Cha Slide. It’s a classic.”

“Yeah okay,” Scott laughs. 

They pull up the Top 40 list and take a gander. Scott clicks on a few songs but none of them peak her interest. She wants something sharp, something that will announce to the world that they’re back from their retirement and ready to put up a fight. She wants to prove something. 

Song after song goes by and they do nothing for her. She’s waiting for a spark, for a fire to light within her. There’s nothing though. Not one song stirs her. Even when he pulls up more classical music they are all so bland. 

“Maybe you could do Meredith’s piano song,” Ellie yawns from Tessa’s lap. She’s been relatively quiet throughout the duration of their listening, Tessa thought she’d fallen asleep. 

“Whose Meredith?” Tessa asks.

“Kaitlyn’s little girl,” Scott says and oh. Tessa didn’t realize they still see her. “She’s a prodigy with the piano. Kaitlyn was devastated when she couldn’t balance on her skates but the second her fingers found the keys it was magic.”

“Oh,” she breathes. “Okay. Why not?”

So Scott pulls open the search bar again, types in _Pilgrims on a Long Journey_ and then clicks the magnifying glass. Pushes play when it pops up. The first piano notes play and Tessa can already picture herself on the ice. Can picture these two characters. Sees the type of costume she would wear and the way she would twist her hair.

She didn’t think the spark would happen, that she would have to settle for a song that aesthetically was nice. But it’s here. With this song. Tessa looks at Scott and locks eyes with him. A fire starts inside her.

The song isn’t even over and she’s saying “This one. I want this one.”

Scott smiles at her, keeps his eyes locked on her intently. The song comes to a close with the two of them still looking at each other. “Okay,” he whispers.

She looks down and sees Ellie’s fallen fast asleep in her arms. “She’s precious,” Tessa says and fuck. Did she say that out loud?

“I’m sorry,” Scott speaks up and what would he be sorry for? She looks at him and he clears his throat. “For yesterday. Her crying and all when you were hurt,” and oh. Yeah. When she lied to him and Elora begged her not to leave. 

Tessa shrugs as softly as she can without stirring El. “That’s alright.”

“Her mom, uh,” and Tessa listens closely. Has been wanting to know more since she met the little girl two weeks ago. “She left about a year ago. Hasn’t been back since. I don’t know where she is or what she’s doing or really why one day I woke up and everything I had of her was gone.”

His voice is so rough that Tessa has to put her hand on his arm and run her thumb along the muscle of his bicep. “I’m sorry, Scott.”

He chuckles softly, sniffles and rubs his eye. “It’s alright, I guess. That’s why I came to Gadbois. I had to get out of Ilderton.”

Tessa smiles like she understands. Like she would somehow know what it’s like to have the love of your life and your daughter’s other parent just get up and walk out. She doesn’t know, is the thing. But she wants to be there for Scott. Wants to be there for Elora.

She vows to herself when she’s driving home and she hears the song _Latch_ by Sam Smith play through the stereo. When she calls Scott and asks if he can mash up the songs together. When she arrives in her house and thinks about the little girl who fell asleep in her lap earlier. She vows to be everything she can be for the two newest people in her life.


	2. the during.

It’s the first competition of the season and Tessa is losing her shit. They’ve been through two Olympics, countless other seasons and programs. They went to the performance camp a few weeks before. They’re ready for this. But she can’t help the nerves that bundle in her stomach and pull.

“Hey,” Andrew comes up behind her and pulls her into a hug. “We’ll be fine, T.”

She nods. “I know. But,” she breathes in deeply. “I just want to show them that we’re back.”

“We will,” Andrew smiles and plants a kiss on her temple. 

Tessa can’t help but bounce on her skate guards as she walks away from Andrew. She peels at the label on her water bottle and bites on her lip.

Scott walks up to her with a smile and for some reason it settles her nerves just a bit. Ellie’s grinning beside him and taking in the crowd, the lights, the long judging panel. “Don’t do that,” Scott reaches out and thumbs her bottom lip from where it’s caught between her teeth. “You’re getting lipstick on your teeth.”

She inhales sharply and looks him up and down. Scott snatches his hand back like he’s realized what he’s done. “Uhm, thanks,” she says.

He coughs and takes a step backwards. “Yeah, no worries.”

“Tessa!” Ellie shouts excitedly beside them. Tessa looks down at her and smiles. “I’m sooo excited to watch you. I know you are going to be beautiful.”

“Oh you are sure of it, are you?” Tessa teases.

“I’m sure. I had a dream last night and you won. So it has to happen,” Ellie states matter-of-factually and it’s damn adorable.

Tessa’s grown close to the little girl the past few months. Has seen her practically every single day. They’ve bonded over hair styles and costumes and dinosaurs and books. Elora is growing up so quickly before her eyes, has started to read to Tessa instead of the other way around. 

There was one night when she was staying late at Scott’s house going over their programs when Ellie practically got on her knees to beg Tess to tuck her in. Tessa just smiled and took her hand to walk her to the purple coloured room at the end of the hallway.

Elora picked a book from her shelf piled with them and settled in bed. Tess sat at the headboard and let Ellie snuggle up under the covers and lean into her side.

“What did you choose today?” Tessa asked.

Ellie smiled up at her and held up _Love You Forever_. Tessa gasped, remembered the many times her own mother would hold her and read the blue book out loud to her and her siblings. “I want you to read it,” Elora said and it was a shock at the time. The previous few weeks Ellie had been begging Tess to listen to her read. But then she placed the book in Tess’ hand and waited for her to open it up.

Tessa had missed Scott peeking through the crack in the door and watching the two girls.

Not only has she grown close to the little brunette, Tessa’s also come to know Scott like the back of her hand. Whenever she’s not at the rink she’s either in her own bed or at his house. She chalks it up to Elora, but he never says anything when she stays hours after the little girl is tucked in and fast asleep. 

She learns more about Elora’s mom. Learns about the history between her and Scott and how he had seen something coming. Just not what actually ended up happening. She learns about his favourite things, how he likes to cook his eggs, what socks he wears when his feet are cold. She takes in every tid bit of information that she can.

Tessa’s unsure if it’s inappropriate, what they’re doing. Andrew hasn’t said anything but then again he isn’t very observant so maybe he just hasn’t noticed. They’re not something in the way Tessa wants. She wants to sleep in his bed and kiss his lips and make him a horribly botched breakfast after they wake up together. She wants to tuck Ellie into bed every night and read her stories and listen to her read them back to her. She wants so much more but for now it’s her visiting when she can, sitting on his couch and holding Elora while they watch another Disney move. It’s her silently wishing he’d wrap his arm around her. It’s him being oblivious of the way she shudders every time he touches her on the ice, off the ice, and everywhere in between. It’s not the way she wants it, but it’s still something.

~

They win gold at their first competition. And their second. And their third. Ellie isn’t at their fourth, she gets sick and has to stay in Montreal. They come home with silver after that one and Tessa is positive she is their good luck charm. 

Their comeback is everything Tessa ever imagined in more. They’re at the top, winning almost every single competition. Andrew and her have been pushing harder than they ever have before, a sure plan to make it to PyeongChang. 

She can’t help but think of the support they have around them. How Marie-France and Patrice have been so supportive of them, even though they are not directly their coaches. How her family has stood behind her not only through the past year but also the past 18 years. Tessa’s so grateful for Andrew. Thinks about his patience and willingness to be there for her in whatever way she needs it. 

“You like him,” Andrew observes one Thursday morning. It’s seven months after their move to Gadbois, after they decided to comeback to ice dance.

“What?” Tessa turns to look at Andrew, tears her eyes away from where she was staring at Scott skating with Elora.

Andrew laughs. “Shit. How did I not fucking notice?”

“What are you talking about, Andrew?”

“You’re in love with Scott!” Andrew proclaims and Tessa clamps her hand over his mouth to shut him up.

“Shut up,” Tessa hisses through her teeth. “Andrew, Jesus Christ.”

He licks her hand and she pulls it away, wipes his saliva on her leggings. “You do, don’t you?”

She sighs. “I don’t know.”

“Tess, fuck, he’s our coach.”

“And you think I don’t know that?” she snaps. Oh does she ever know it. Thinks about it every time her heart speeds up around him. Every time she looks at him a little longer than she probably should. Every time she finds herself thinking about him, even when he isn’t there. Every time she longs to wake up and see his bed head and kiss his lips and feel his morning breath wash over her face.

Andrew looks at her, really looks at her. “I’m sorry,” he says and of course he is. Because he’s Andrew and she’s known him for 18 years and they are best friends. They can glance at each other and know exactly what the other is thinking. So of course he understands her pain. Knows the way her skin feels like it’s going to crack under Scott’s gaze.

“I’m working on it,” is all she says before Scott skates over to them. 

~

He calls her on a Friday night when everything changes.

“Tess,” he says through the phone and he sounds frantic. “Are you busy right now?”

“Nope,” she responds.

“Would you be able to do me a huge favour?” he asks and she wants to yell because Scott could ask her to do anything and she’d be there in seconds. She doesn’t say that though, hums instead. “I’ve got this, uh, thing tonight and the babysitter fell through so I have no one to watch El. Would you-”

“I’m on my way,” Tessa says before he even finishes asking. Like she said before. In seconds.

He shouts a thank you through the phone before he’s hanging up. Tess grabs her car keys and a jacket, slips on her boots and she’s out the door.

Tessa doesn’t even bother knocking anymore. Scott actually gave her a key to his house the other day, stuttered through an excuse of _in case you want to come over to see Ellie or if I’m not home yet and we need to go over training videos_. Tessa didn’t question it, just took the key and slid it onto her lanyard.

“Hello!” she calls out once the door is open.

She hears the pitter patter of little feet running down the hallway and then sees Ellie. She’s dressed in her Paw Patrol pajamas, the ones with little socks sewn in that make Tessa swoon. “Tess!” Elora yells and jumps into her arms. She trusts Tessa with her entire being and no, that doesn’t absolutely crush Tessa’s soul, but thanks for asking.

“Hey love bug,” Tessa pulls her into a hug and spins them around. Elora giggles and grips her arms around Tessa’s neck tightly. She sees Scott come around the corner and _oh_. He’s in this fancy suit, all tailored and tight fitting and her mouth goes dry. “Don’t you look fancy.”

Scott smiles and greets her by the door. “I hope so. Need to make a good first impression.”

Tessa scoffs and places Elora on her hip. “What, you meeting some fancy new business partners?”

“Uhm,” the doorbell rings. “Not quite.”

Scott reaches for the handle and pulls open the door and _oh okay_. There’s a blonde standing in the door way. She’s pretty, is Tessa’s first though. She’s got this tight red dress on and lipstick to match. Her smile is bright when she opens the door.

“Hello,” the girl speaks and even her voice is perfect.

“Hi,” Scott stumbles. He decides to lean forward and give her a kiss on the cheek. The girl stares past his shoulder and eyes up Tessa where she’s holding Ellie. Scott notices. “Oh, uhm. Tessa, El, this is Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn, this is my daughter and, uh,” he trails off.

“Tessa,” she smiles and puts Scott out of his misery. She too doesn’t know what to label them. Coach and skater? Business partners? Friends? Before this moment Tessa might have said _two people who like each other and can’t get their shit together_ but staring at this girl it seems that isn’t true.

“Right,” Scott says awkwardly. “Well, we better get going,” he turns to Tessa. “Call me if you need anything.”

Tessa nods, holds El tighter and wills herself not to fucking cry. She’s a grown woman. She and Scott are friends and nothing more. Hell, he’s her coach and nothing more, if she’s being honest. 

Scott nods and gives Elora a kiss on the forehead before exiting the door and closing it behind them. Her and Ellie stare at the wood for a moment. “I don’t like her,” El speaks up.

“Me neither,” Tessa responds and she probably shouldn’t be egging on a four year old but she’s not the type of person to lie to one either.

~

It’s just after ten when Scott slide back through the front door. Tessa had long ago put Ellie to bed. The girl made Tess read her _Love You Forever_ again and it seems like that’s the only book she wants to read lately. Tessa doesn’t like to investigate into it. Doesn’t delve into the fact that the book is about a mother telling her child how much she loves him and how she will love him forever. Doesn’t think about Elora’s own mother walking out on her and Scott.

“Hey,” Scott smiles at Tessa when he walks into the family room. She’s sitting on the couch, some show about home makeovers playing in the background.

Tessa stretches on the couch, lifts her arms in the air and sighs when she relaxes. “Hello.”

“How’s El?” Scott asks, looks down the hallway as if he could see into her closed door from where he’s standing. “Perfect, per usual,” Tessa shrugs like it’s common sense that Scott’s got the greatest child in the world.

Scott takes a seat on the couch beside Tessa. “She’s been fussing lately about bed time.”

“She was good for me. Basically shoved Robert Munch in my face,” Scott laughs and turns his head to look at her where he’s got it resting on the back of the couch.

Tessa takes a deep breath. “How was your date?” she asks but she really doesn’t want to know the answer, doesn’t want to hear about the pretty blonde and whether he kissed her goodnight or not.

“Um,” Scott clears his throat. “Not the greatest, to be honest. She just. I don’t know.”

“Was she boring?” Tess inquires only because she cares about Scott. And also maybe because she wants to hear about his awful date so she can feel better about herself.

“Not really. She, uh,” he pauses and bites his bottom lip. “She thought that she caught me in the middle of talking to my wife and daughter when she came to the door.”

Tessa chokes on her spit. “What?!”

“Yeah,” Scott sighs and runs his hand over his face. “That was fun to explain. _No, Kaitlyn. I’m not into the whole sister wives thing_.”

Tessa laughs and it’s basically a bark, so loud and obnoxious and she hopes she didn’t wake Ellie up. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Yeah, no kidding!” Scott throws his hands up. “I give up on the whole dating thing. Why do girls always freak out when they find out about Elora?”

Tessa places her hand on his shoulder and digs her fingers in as if to sooth his mind with her touch. “Don’t worry, Scotty. You’ll find someone.”

Scott turns his head to look at her. She feels a shift in the air. It feels thick, but she doesn’t know with what. Just knows that Scott’s staring at her like she’s keeping him from floating to the ceiling. She feels that way about him all the time. During practice, after a bad training week, in the Kiss and Cry, when she’s laying in Ellie’s bed listening to her read. 

And then they’re kissing. She’s not sure who initiates it first but she can’t seem to bring herself to care. Tessa’s kissing Scott. And she’s been dreaming of this moment since she first laid eyes on him in Gadbois, when he sauntered down the hallway and into her heart.

He’s good, is the thing. Knows exactly how to work his tongue past her lips, knows how much teeth is enough. He grips onto her waist and pulls her onto his lap and Jesus it’s so hot. She can’t help but grind herself down onto his lap. The noise he makes is beautiful and she wants a CD filled with just that sound. 10 tracks, each 3 minutes long. 

“I’m not doing this on the same couch my daughter sits on,” Scott says as Tessa pulls away to strip him of his shirt. She stands up off his lap and takes her shirt off, throws it in his face and he laughs. “Come on, then,” Tessa smirks and practically runs down the hallway to where she knows Scott’s bedroom is. 

He follows along behind, close but never touching. She’s never been in his room but when she opens the door it’s not a surprising sight. There’s a queen sized bed in the middle of the room, the walls painted a dark navy blue. His comforter is this plaid, checkered red and the same blue paint on all four walls. There aren’t many pictures in the room besides one on his bed side table of him, Elora, and his mom. Even the poster for the Maple Leafs hanging above his bed brings the room together and it’s so utterly Scott.

“You thinking of redecorating?” Scott chuckles behind Tessa and she shudders when his hands grab her waist from behind. “Because I kind of had some other plans for us, if that’s okay.”

She spins around and weaves her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck. He’s been growing it long the past few months and she loves it. Thinks he could shave it bald or grow it down to his butt and she wouldn’t care.

“What did you have in mind?” Tessa smirks.

Scott says nothing, just reaches down and pulls her up by her thighs. She squeals at the sudden movement, laughs when he practically throws her on the bed. “You really want to know what I have in mind?” Scott’s snaking his way up the bed and Tessa is struggling to breathe. She nods. “Well,” he grabs at the waist line of her pants. “I was thinking of getting these off.”

“Do it then,” Tessa challenges him. He cocks his head and doesn’t lose the smirk. Pops the button on her jeans and slowly pulls them down. Her hips then her thighs then her calves then her ankles. It’s slow and somewhat feels like torture. “What next?”

Scott hums. “I want to taste you,” he says and she gasps.

“Do it then,” she repeats herself and Scott’s eyes go dark.

He climbs up the bed, kisses his way up her calves and thighs. Scott pulls apart her legs, throws one of them over his shoulder as he lays on his stomach. Tessa’s breathing has long gone irregular. She whimpers as he licks a stripe over her panties. She’s so needy, wants it all so much. Begs “Please, Scott,” and she doesn’t know exactly what it is she’s begging for but she just wants something.

“You’re beautiful,” Scott whispers, his words floating into the air and settling in Tessa’s chest. He slips his fingers into her underwear and pulls them down, throws the red fabric to the corner of the room. “Gosh, Tess,” Scott mutters before taking his fingers and spreading her.

She doesn’t know what to do. Yes, she’s experienced in this area. Went a little off the rails after Vancouver when the win settled in her skin and men knew exactly who she was. Went even more off the rails after Sochi when she couldn’t fit into the loss and knew exactly what she needed from men to make it go away.

But in this moment she doesn’t know what to do. It’s Scott, is the thing. It’s Scott whose flicking his tongue on her clit and it’s Scott whose got two fingers buried inside of her and it’s Scott who makes her moan and whine and writhe around on the sheets. She doesn’t know how to process that she’s finally getting what she’s always wanted from Scott.

“God, I’ve wanted this for so long,” she groans out, grips the hair at the back of his head and shamelessly grinds up into his mouth.

Scott hums against her and pulls away. “You have?”

Tessa nods. “Since I first saw you walking down that fucking hallway.”

“Jesus, Tess,” Scott huffs and dives back in to keep licking at her, keep fingering her, and fuck that sounds so filthy but Tessa would be lying if she said she doesn’t completely love it.

He pulls away shortly after, and Tessa feels like someone’s just branded her. “Scott, no, don’t stop,” Tessa grabs onto his arms for dear life.

“I got you,” is all he says before standing up beside the bed and stripping the lower half of himself. Tessa stares so unashamedly, wracks her eyes up and down his body. “Wanna take a picture?” Scott jokes, a smirk taking over his face.

“Yes, I actually would,” Tessa giggles and sits up. She slides over the bed and sits on the edge. Reaches out for Scott’s hands and pulls him to her. “Want some help?” she asks, looks up at him with wide eyes and she isn’t stupid. She knows what works with guys.

But Scott’s different. She shouldn’t be surprised because there’s always been something about him that’s set him apart from every other guy she’s been with. “Uh, that’s okay,” Scott stutters out.

She’s not having it though. “Scott,” she says. Grabs his dick with her hand and licks a stripe up the underside. He groans and she can feel the shudder that rushes through him. She slides her mouth over him, bobs her head up and down once, twice, three times. 

“Tessa,” Scott grunts and pulls her hair into a bunch in his hands. He pulls her off of his dick by her hair and her eyes roll to the back of her head. “Oh, uhm. You’re into that?” Tessa doesn’t answer. Just looks up at him and blinks. “Fuck, okay. We’ll talk about that later,” Scott says and pushes Tessa back on the bed.

She sees him reach into the drawer on his bedside and pull out a condom. Before he climbs back on the bed she stops him. “Wait. Can you, uh. Can you flip that picture?” she points to the one of Ellie.

Scott laughs. “Yeah, sure,” and he puts the picture downwards.

“Don’t want your daughter imposing on this,” Tessa smiles and Scott chuckles.

He slips the condom on and climbs up to where Tessa is laying. Scott leans down and kisses her. It’s so sweet and soft that Tessa almost loses her mind. And of course it wouldn’t be Scott eating her out or Scott’s dick in her mouth or Scott fucking her deep that would cause her to lose her mind. Of course it would be him kissing her so deeply that she forgets her name for a second.

“You ready?” Scott asks above her and she nods. He pushes into her and it feels fucking amazing. She feels so full and warm. 

He’s good, is the thing. Knows exactly how to thrust his hips to hit her at all the right angles. It’s even hotter when he grips onto the headboard and fucks into her faster. She has to bite her lip to keep from screaming, is very conscious of the little girl sleeping two doors down from them.

She cums fast. Wants to blame it on the fact that he had gotten her so close before, but she knows that it’s because it’s Scott. Knows that it’s him looking at her so intensely, his breath huffing against her cheek. His lips planting firm kisses there and on her neck. His thumb slipping between them to flick at her clit. 

“Fuck, Tessa,” he grunts out when she finally let’s go, spasms around him and grips onto the sheets so tight that she thinks they may rip. 

He cums shortly after, moans low into her ear and pulls her hair just slightly that Tessa thinks if he keeps going she’d orgasm again. 

They’re laying beside each other after, Tessa’s head on his chest, Scott’s arm wrapped around her so tightly that she thinks she could walk into war like this and come out completely unscathed. 

“Just to let you know,” Scott whispers in her ear. “I’ve wanted to do that to you since Marie showed me a picture of you and Andrew on that podium in Sochi.”

Tessa snaps her head up to look at him. Thinks he’s lying but she just finds a soft smile and kind eyes. And she can’t help herself when she leans up to kiss him for the twentieth time that night. 

~

They’re fucking, is the thing. She doesn’t tell anyone, keeps it a secret between them. They sneak around and she feels like a teenager trying to hide the local bad boy from her parents and it’s thrilling. She stays the night now, wakes up and sees his bed head and kisses his lips and feels his morning breath wash over her face. She gets to make poached eggs and toast for him and Ellie. He gets to make her coffee and tell her that she looks exceptionally beautiful in the morning.

Elora doesn’t really catch on. Andrew doesn’t really catch on. Marie-France and Patrice don’t really catch on. And that fucks Tessa up the most. How so much has changed but has it really? Because he still dotes after her and catches the back of her neck in his hands when she’s nervous. He still skates with her whenever Andrew doesn’t understand a certain element. She still watches Disney movies with him and Ellie. 

Things change, but not really. 

~

Scott’s slipped his way into her life so easily, is the thing. She looks into her rear view mirror and sees Elora staring out the window quietly. Tessa has started taking her places; the mall, the park, the rink. Originally it was because Scott got busy and didn’t want to leave Ellie with a stranger. Scott would transfer her car seat to Tessa’s Acura. One day Tess showed up with one already installed, had dropped by Toys R Us and grabbed one. She didn’t think too much at the time, but as she had pulled up to the house she thought about what it meant.

Scott didn’t say anything about it though. Just sat Elora in the seat and buckled her up. Tess caught his smile in the mirror.

“What do you want for dinner tonight?” Tessa asks Elora and the girl looks up from the window. 

“Chicken nuggets?” she asks, has this smile on her face like she knows Tessa’s going to say no but she might as well try anyways.

Tess laughs. “How about that chicken pasta daddy made last week?”

Ellie nods, satisfied with the choice.

They pull up to the grocery store and Tessa helps Elora out. Grabs the girl’s hand and walks with her into the store. 

Ellie has told Tessa on multiple occasions that she prefers shopping with her. Tess thinks it’s because she has no impulse control when it comes to the girl. Will get her anything and everything she wants at the drop of a hat. So she’s excited. Babbles about these new yoghurt tubes she saw on a commercial that have _Despicable Me, Tess!_.

Of course the grocery store places the yoghurt on the top shelf of the fridges. Tess tries her hardest to reach them, even picks Elora up and tries to get her to her to grab the box.

“Want some help?” Tessa turns to see a tall blonde man smiling behind her. 

“Uhm, sure,” Tess says and watches as the man reaches above her to grab them. He hands them to her and he’s got this bright smile on his face. “Thanks.”

“No worries,” the man continues to smile and Tessa wonders if his cheeks ever get sore. “You come here often?”

Tessa laughs because oh. This man is trying to flirt with her. “Yeah, actually,” she responds.

Ellie coughs from beside her and Tessa looks down to see the little girl reaching up to hold her hand. “I’m cold.”

Tess looks beside them and sees the fridge door still open. She closes it tightly and leans down to pick Elora up. “Sorry, bug.”

“You’ve got a beautiful daughter,” the man comments. 

Tessa smiles and looks at Elora. Tickles her tummy and watches her giggle. “Thanks. She’s not mine, though.”

“Oh,” the man looks Tessa up and down and she holds Ellie tighter. “And you have no wedding ring.”

Tessa almost chokes at how obvious this guy is being. “Uh, yeah.”

The thing is her and Scott aren’t in a relationship. They have this messy back and forth thing and she may or may not be a little bit in love with him but she’d never say anything. 

“So maybe I could take you out sometime?” the man is bold, holds himself with all the confidence in the entire world, Tessa thinks. 

“Uhm-” 

“I don’t think daddy would be happy,” Elora speaks up in Tessa’s arms. She’s the smartest five year old Tessa’s ever known. She can’t wrap her head around how she has not only fallen for Scott but also his daughter. 

“Oh,” the man stutters, looks around as if someone will save him from the awkwardness of being called out by a five year old. “Sorry, uh. Have a nice day,” he smiles and waves. Walks away from the two and Tessa can’t help but place a kiss on Elora’s cheek. 

Ellie giggles and wipes the back of her hand over the spot marked by Tessa’s pale pink lipstick. “Don’t,” the girl whines and Tessa just laughs.

~

“Do you believe in alternate universes?” Tessa asks Scott one night.

Scott chuckles and kisses her temple. They’re laying in bed, completely naked besides the sheet pulled tightly over them. “What?”

“Alternate universes! Like, other dimensions in time where things are different.”

Scott laughs, loud and brash. “I think I fucked you too hard.”

She groans and smacks his chest. “Just indulge me.”

“I thought I already did that,” Scott smirks and she groans his name. “I don’t know, Tess. Why?” 

She bites his collarbone. “I think in another universe we are skating partners.”

“Oh, yeah?”

Tessa giggles. “Yeah. We started when I was seven and you were nine. Virtue and Moir. Met at the Ilderton Skate Club when our parents thought we’d be cute together. We take over the world.”

“Of course we do,” Scott comments. 

“We win the Olympics three times, gold across the boards.”

“Maybe we should swap out for a silver in Sochi. We can’t be _that_ great.”

Tessa giggles. “Okay, silver at Sochi.”

“And are we fucking in this universe too?” Scott smirks and licks a stripe up her neck.

She shudders. “Any universe where I know you, we’re fucking.”

Scott climbs over her and kisses her deep.

~

It’s Worlds and they win. Andrew and Tessa stand on top of the podium and smile and wave at the crowd. She ignores the bitter faces of the French to her right. Locks eyes with Scott and Ellie standing by the boards. Her heart catches in her throat when she thinks for a moment _they’re mine_.

The thing, though, is that Scott doesn’t belong to her. They haven’t put any labels on it. She doesn’t come to his family get togethers and he surely hasn’t met her sister. She doesn’t go to Ellie’s figure skating recital. They’re not together. They’re just fucking.

Except she _does_ do all of those things. She goes to his family Christmas and he meets her sister (and Jordan loves him, can’t get enough of the man), and she attends Ellie’s figure skating recital. Watches the little girl in a pink tutu skate around the ice and she’s so beautiful. Tessa feels her heart swell. But she doesn’t deserve to feel like a proud mom. Because she’s just fucking Scott and she’s not anything to him or Elora. 

That sparks something in her. Creates this animalistic side of her that wants to claim Scott for her own. But he doesn’t want her like that. He wants to fuck her and that’s okay, Tessa thinks. Knows that she would take him in any way her allowed her to have.

“Come here,” Tessa practically growls at Scott when she gets off the ice. Drags Scott down the hallway and turns around to lock eyes with Andrew. 

“El, wanna see the medal?” Andrew bends down and shows Elora his medal, a matching one to the gold she has around her neck. She thanks him in her head.

She finds a closet and it’s not classy at all but nonetheless she pulls Scott into it. Immediately jumps on him, literally jumps, and prays he catches her. Her mouth is on his, kissing and nipping and pulling.

“Tess, Jesus,” he hisses through their kiss, manages to pull back. “What are you doing?” he asks as he sets her down.

She struggles to unzip her costume and slip out of it. “What does it look like?” and her dress hits the ground.

“We can’t do this here.” he says but he still lets her pull him out of the grey Canada sweater.

“Let’s play a game,” she whispers into his ear, bites his lobe when she pulls away. “Whoever makes noise first, loses.”

“Tess-”

“You just lost,” she says flatly. Sinks down to her knees and easily pulls his pants down. “I’ll give you a restart.”

And then she’s on him. Sucks his dick into her mouth and he grips her hair tight. Tessa works hard on him, bobs fast and strong. She wants to make him lose, wants him to moan and groan and squeak (she got him to do that once and it was the proudest moment of her life). But he stays stoic. Just let’s her suck him.

She glares at him as she pulls away, jerks him off and wants him to show _something_. He doesn’t look fazed at all. And that gets her even angrier.

Tessa stands up and jumps on him again. It’s uncoordinated and messy and the law of physics shouldn’t even allow her to do it but she’s an ice dancer so Isaac Newton is on her good side. She slips him into her and it doesn’t even occur to Tess that he isn’t wearing a condom.

They’ve done it once. She had pulled him in and tossed the condom aside and told him to go ahead. He was shocked but nonetheless pushed into her. But they’re just fucking, so maybe she should be a bit more cautious. But she knows for her it’s him. Only him.

She fucks him, bounces up and down and watches his face change. But he still doesn’t make a noise. He’s gotten into the game, too. Flicks his thumb against her and rolls her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. 

But he still doesn’t make a noise. She’s frustrated, wants to watch him break. Tessa ignores how she herself is slowly breaking. 

“Fuck, Scott!” she practically yells. “Put me down.”

He looks at her confused. She pulls her costume back on and he just watches her. Watches her zip up the dress and wipe under her eyes. 

“Tess?” he asks, reaches out for her but she pulls away. 

“I’ll see you later,” she mutters and walks out the door. 


	3. the after.

The season’s over. And she’s left Scott like that. Naked in a fucking closet in Helsinki. She moves back to London for the first few weeks before Stars on Ice. Doesn’t say goodbye to Scott or Elora. Ignores his calls and texts. 

“I fucked Scott,” she says to Andrew one night. They’re halfway through the tour, settled in a hotel in Toronto. 

Andrew looks over at her from where he’s sitting on a chair in the corner of the room. They’re just about to go out for the night, are waiting for the rest of the group to get ready and meet them in Tessa and Meghan’s room. The other skater is gone, said something earlier about helping Eric pick an outfit. 

“I know,” Andrew replies nonchalantly. 

Her stomach drops. He knew. “You did?”

Andrew sighs. “Practically everyone at the rink and their mothers knew, Tess. You weren’t subtle.” Tessa wants to argue but she stays silent. “Marie told me Scott’s never let a girl get that close to Ellie. Not since Cassie left.”

She wants to throw up. Tries to convince herself it’s from the bottle of Girls Night Out she just chugged (not her classiest moment). But she knows it’s not. 

A silence settles in the room. Tessa’s trying to wrack through her brain to figure out how she should feel. She reminds herself that they were never together. That she longed to be close to Scott and to call him hers. She wanted Scott to own her. Fuck, she still wants Scott to own her. But he never did and he never will. 

“He’s called me asking about you,” Andrew speaks up. Tessa snaps her eyes up to watch him. “You should call him.”

Tessa shrugs. “I don’t know what I would say.”

Andrew stands up and walks over to the bed. He pulls Tessa in close and holds her. She lets a tear fall and it’s not the first one since she left Montreal but somehow it’s the most painful.

“Tell him the truth.”

If she gets so drunk that night she can’t remember the name of the guy she goes home with, well. No one has to know. 

~

They’re in Montreal and Tessa’s entire being is on edge. She knew it was coming, memorized the Stars on Ice schedule like she does every other thing in her life. Like she’s memorized the back of Andrew’s hand and the way her mother looked at her when she won gold in Vancouver and the way Elora laughs when you tickle her and the way Scott sounds with his voice bouncing against her lips. 

But the fact that she knows something doesn’t mean it hurts any less when she thinks about it.

She’s on edge the whole show. They’re not her best skates and she knows that. Looks at Andrew and sees him smile at her to encourage her to keep going. Tess doesn’t even know why she’s so anxious. Scott knows she’s here, but that doesn’t mean he actually came. 

They never made plans for the time she would be away. Never talked about it. She thinks maybe it was because they wanted to stay in their bubble for as long as possible. She also thinks, and this one runs through her mind the most, that maybe it’s because he didn’t plan on seeing her outside of their tight confines of practice, training, and competitions. 

Andrew holds her hand after they get off the ice. They walk to the back room where they hold meet and greets with the fans. She plasters a smile on her face. Has learned the past few years how to fake happiness for the world to see. She thinks about Sochi and the lines her and Andrew would deliver about how they were just grateful to be there. Thinks about the way she cried in his arms after each interview. 

She hears them before she sees them. 

“Tess!” a small voice yells from behind her and she could be in a crowd of a million people and still recognize the voice. 

She turns around and sees Ellie running towards her, opens her arms just in time to catch the girl. She doesn’t like how different Elora looks, how she struggles to pick her up. 

“El,” Tessa whispers breathlessly and buries her face in the girl’s hair, breathes her in and holds her so tight. 

She puts Elora down, kneels to take her in. Tessa holds her face between her hands and just stares at her. “Why did you leave?” Ellie speaks softly and it breaks Tessa’s heart. 

“I’m sorry, love. I had to go on tour.”

“You didn’t say goodbye,” Elora starts to cry, fat tears roll down her cheeks. “I thought you left forever.”

Tessa’s more broken than before. Has to look away from Elora so she doesn’t start crying herself. But she finds herself looking at Scott. He’s standing there with his hands in his pockets, just watching the exchange between his daughter and Tessa. She’s mad at him, wants to smack him for using Elora to make Tessa feel bad about herself. As if she doesn’t wake up every morning hating herself because Scott’s not there beside her. 

“I’m sorry,” Tessa chokes out. She’s still looking at Scott. “I’m so sorry.”

She pulls Ellie into another hug and lets the girl cry on her shoulder. Soothes the back of her head with her hand, tangles her fingers through the brunette hair and untangles it as she goes. 

“Elora,” is the first thing Scott says. 

The girl pulls away from Tessa and obediently walks over to her dad. Tessa watches her, stands up and fixes her gaze on Scott instead. 

“Hi,” she says. 

There’s a hand resting on her lower back and that clues her into the fact that there’s other people in the room still. That they’re in the middle of a fucking meet and greet and Scott’s come and fucked everything up. 

“You okay?” Andrew whispers in her ear and she nods. “Okay.”

“I’ll be waiting outside,” Scott speaks. Is so confident in his statement as if Tessa would just drop everything and run after him. He’s right, is the thing. 

They wrap up the meet and greet, Tessa faking a smile once again. She has to breathe deeply when a fan asks about Scott. Has to state some media prepped phrase about how he’s such a great coach and is the heart of their comeback. It feels so fucking fake she wants to vomit. 

Scott’s not lying when he said he’d be waiting outside. Tessa leaves the venue and finds him leaning against the building. She approaches him slowly, waits for him to look up and catch her eye. 

When he does she feels like he’s slowly pulling her apart. “Where’s Elora?” she asks. 

“She’s with Kaitlyn,” Scott says. Tessa reminds herself of his old skating partner, how she has a daughter of her own that Ellie’s close with. 

She nods and breathes out. “Uhm,” she doesn’t know what to say to him. Doesn’t know his intentions or why he’s even here at all. 

“Let’s go for a walk,” Scott says, nods his head down the street and she follows. 

They’ve done this so many times. Walked down busy streets and alleyways. Usually with a little girl swinging between them, her hands grasped onto both of theirs. But there’s been times where it’s been just them. When Scott’s treated her to coffee and croissants. When she was feeling bad about a training week so he’d taken her through a park to skate on the public rink. 

It hits her that they have more history than she thinks. That he became a solid part of her life for over a year. That she’s watched his daughter grow up. That he’s watched Tessa grow up, grow into this new skater she’s found herself to be. 

“How have you been?” Tessa asks once they get out from the busy street. The one they’ve turned onto is relatively empty, only one or two people walking ahead of them. 

Scott laughs humourlessly. “Don’t give me that shit, Tessa.”

His voice is so sharp that she flinches. He’s mad. She knew he would be. “I’m sorry.”

“Do you even have a fucking clue what I’ve gone through the past two months?” he should be yelling but he’s not. His voice is smooth and even and Tessa thinks that’s even worse. She shakes her head. “Fuck, Tessa. Did it even occur to you what you did to me? To us?”

She can get mad too. She thinks about how he dragged her along through the best parts of his life only as a fuck buddy. “What does it matter?” she hisses. 

He looks at her, stares her down and it’s like he’s challenging her to keep arguing. Challenge accepted. “What the fuck are you talking about, Tessa?”

She huffs. “I wasn’t anything to you, Scott!” and she will yell. He may be the epitome of calm but she’s anything but. “I was just someone you could fuck.”

“How can you say that?!” his voice increases now, almost matching her own tone. He stops walking. “Tessa, Jesus. You practically lived in my house. My daughter fell in love with you. I-” he cuts himself off. 

“I didn’t matter to you, Scott. Not like that.”

“Do you even fucking remember what happened to the last woman in my life?!” he’s yelling, his face gone red. She freezes. “She left, Tessa. Got up and never said a word. Just like you.”

The thing is that she never thought about that. Was so selfish to forget about Cassie. To not clue into the fact that Tessa was doing the same thing that she did. “I,” she doesn’t even know what to say. Knows sorry won’t fix anything. Her mind flashes back to that time in the rink when Andrew was sick. When Scott shook her core during a rotational lift. When she made him stop and skated away and Elora cried because she thought Tessa was leaving. 

“I had to try to convince Elora you would come back,” Scott’s voice drops and he sounds broken. “I couldn’t even convince myself of that.”

She starts to cry. Warm tears shine on her face and she hastily wipes them away. “I’m sorry,” she says like it will fix everything. 

Scott scoffs. “You were never just someone I was fucking, Tessa. And you know that.”

She doesn’t, though. Didn’t know that. “I’m sorry,” she repeats. He turns to walk away. “I love you.”

Her voice is hoarse when it leaves her throat. Like she’s not used to saying those three words. Like she’s forcing herself to spill everything open for him. 

He turns around and glances at her quickly. “Yeah, well. You should have said that before you left.”

And he walks away. Down the street and out of her life. It feels like an ending. She doesn’t chase after him. 

~

They finish the tour. Then they move back to Montreal. 

Training starts back up and Scott’s in her life again. Just not the way she wants him. But then again, has he ever been in her life the way she wants him?

They’re professional. Scott’s kind and helpful and is there when Marie-France choreographs this amazingly beautiful free dance to Moulin Rouge. Tessa locks it in the back of her mind the fact that it’s about longing and jealousy and passion. Thinks about her relationship with Scott and sees his face every time she skates the program.

Elora asks her one day why she doesn’t come over anymore. Tessa just smiles and tells her she’s really busy. Scott stares at her like he’ll rip her apart if she says the wrong thing to her daughter. Tessa thinks about leaving him in Finland and him walking away from her in the streets of Montreal and thinks she’s already done and said all the wrong things.

Andrew’s supportive of her the whole season. Holds her close and runs his hands up and down her body whenever she’s nervous. She cuddles up to him, uses him as an anchor like she has been for the past 20 years of her life. She loves him. 

There’s always been dating rumours but the season intensifies them. She thinks maybe it’s because of their programs or maybe it’s because she holds Andrew a little tighter around Scott if only to imagine he’s jealous. 

She doesn’t fend them off. Feeds into the interviewers and photographers asking them about their dating lives. They talk about the characters and their friendship and what they mean to each other. They never deny it, though. Never outright say that they’re not a couple. 

Tessa never realizes that it drives Scott wild until after Skate Canada International when Scott grabs her hand and drags her to a room at the back of the arena. 

“Scott, what-” he cuts her off with his mouth against hers. 

It’s rough and messy and there’s too much teeth but Tessa loves it. Can’t get enough of Scott, runs her hands through his hair and scrapes her nails down his back. 

He grabs her ass and squeezes tightly. She whimpers against his mouth and grinds on his leg. It’s so fucking desperate, feels like the past few months have been packed into this moment. 

“Scott,” she moans as he slips his hand under her dress, his fingers wiggle past the built in underwear of the costume and easily slide into her. 

She does the same for him, slides her hand into his pants and starts pulling him off. They breathe against each other’s mouths, passing air back and forth. It makes Tessa dizzy and she thinks she’s going to pass out. 

Tessa almost screams when he curves his fingers up in her. He bites her bottom lip hard. “Shut up,” Scott growls and Tessa wants to be hurt but she pushes her feelings aside. Focuses on chasing her orgasm instead of the potential heartbreak she is going to feel after this all ends. 

He loses it first. Tessa feels it on her hands and she wants to be grossed out but it’s Scott. 

“Come on, Tess. Cum for me, baby,” he whispers in her ear and she whines all high and throaty. 

She cums, of course she does. Slumps against Scott and breathes in deeply to catch up with the high her body is on. He holds her for a moment, brushes the hair back from her face and kisses her cheek, forehead, temple. 

But then he’s letting go. Lightly pushes her off of him and leaves her standing there. “Scott, wait-” she tries to say but he’s out the door before she can even finish speaking. 

He’s left her in this room like she left him in that closet so many months ago. And she wants to cry but she thinks she’s cried over him enough times to fill the James Bay. 

~

The Olympics is something she will remember for the rest of her life. They win, of course they do. From the moment they finish their free dance and Andrew skates away from her in shock and she clamps her hands over her mouth, she knows they’ve won. 

He skates back to her in full force, lifts her up into this bone crushing hug and she doesn’t want him to let her go. She cries, these fat tears sliding down her face and she laughs because this is her life.

Scott hugs her when she gets off the ice if only to be a supportive coach. She catches the cameras around and thinks about those as well.

In the Kiss and Cry Scott leaps off the bench when it’s announced they win gold. She lets out a scream and Andrew immediately pulls her into a hug.

When she’s on the podium she looks into the crowd and sees her family. Sees Andrew’s mom hugging her own. And a few rows over she sees Elora holding a poster with Tessa’s face plastered all over it. The girl is smiling so big and waving ecstatically. Tessa waves back and she cries even more. Wishes she were going back to Scott’s room tonight and wishes she were crawling into bed next to him after reading _Love You Forever_ to El. 

But she’s not. She’ll climb into her bed alone and stare at her gold medal laying on the pillow beside her instead of a mop of brunette hair. 

~

Tessa’s packing up her apartment when she hears a knock on the door. She’s not expecting anyone, at least not until tomorrow when her mother is due to arrive and help her move back to London. 

“Hello?” she calls out and gets no response.

Tessa huffs and walks over to open the door. She gasps when she sees the person standing behind it. 

“Hi,” Scott smiles at her. 

“Hey,” Tessa breathes out. Looks him up and down and sees he’s got nothing with him. No Elora or laptop or briefcase. “Come in,” she steps aside and gestures for him to walk through the door. 

He walks in and looks around the apartment. “It’s empty.”

“Yeah,” she says, watches him sit on the couch in the living room. “Do you want something to drink, or?”

“Tess,” he looks at her and she shuts up. “Can you just come here?”

She follows his orders, walks over to the couch and sits beside him. Tessa crosses her legs and places her hands in her lap, looks at the nail polish she’s been slowly picking off. 

They’re quiet. She’s not sure what the meaning of his visit is, not positive of why he’s sat beside her when they haven’t stepped foot in each other’s homes for almost a year, unless it was for business. 

“When are you leaving?” he breaks the silence. 

“Tomorrow.” 

He hums. “Do you think Ellie could stop by before? She’s, uh. We’ve talked about you leaving and she talks about how she’s going to miss you.” 

“Yeah,” Tessa nods. “I could stop by. So you don’t have to leave.”

“Okay.”

She doesn’t know when it got like this between them. When it was purely niceties and small talk. 

“I love you, Scott.” 

She’s not sure why she says it. If it’s one last plea. If it’s just so he knows. If it’s her begging him to ask her to stay. 

He sighs. “Tessa.”

“It’s okay,” she stops him. Doesn’t want to hear him tell her that he can’t feel like that for her. “I-I. I understand. I fucked up and I hate myself everyday for leaving you-”

“Please don’t hate yourself.”

She bites her lip. Promised herself months ago she was done crying over him. “I know nothing will fix what I did but, fuck, Scott. I love you so much it hurts. And you don’t have to say anything back, I just. I just want you to know. Before I leave again.”

He looks down at his hands and she burns her stare to the side of his face. Scott nods and she wants to pull him in and have her way with him one last time. But that’s what Skate Canada Internationals were for. That’s what the Olympics was for. 

“I should go,” he says. 

She nods. Watches him stand up and look at her once again. He really looks at her, stares her up and down and she feels naked in front of him. Bare from her head to her toes. “I’ll be around tomorrow.”

“Bye, Tess,” Scott says and then he’s out the door. Walks out of her life. Again. 

~

“That’s the last box, love,” Kate says from the door. 

Tessa’s standing in the living room and looking around. There’s so many memories in here from the past two years. She remembers Andrew and her sitting at the kitchen table and planning their comeback. She remembers Elora jumping on the couch and singing along to Moana. She remembers Scott pinning her against the wall in the hallway and kissing her so hard her lips bruised. 

“Tessa?” her mom comes up behind her and places her hand on Tess’ shoulder. “Everything okay?”

“Yep,” she barely gets out. 

It’s like ripping off a band-aid. She turns around quickly and walks out the door. Walks past her mom and into the stairwell. 

They drive the short distance to Scott’s house. Kate knows everything. Learned about Scott and their messy history when Tessa came home for Christmas 2017 and cried on her mom’s shoulder. When her mom had held her it and reminded Tessa so much of the time Elora fell on the ice and skated to Tess instead of Scott. Tessa held her tight and Scott just pressed his lips together and watched the two as she comforted his daughter.

The door is so familiar that Tessa thinks she could shred it up and then put it back together again, like Monsters Inc. She knocks and it immediately opens. 

Elora says nothing, just clings onto her. Tessa kneels onto the ground and pulls her in tighter. “Oh, El.”

The girl cries. Tessa pulls her away from the hug and wipes the tears away from under her eyes. “Please don’t leave,” and the small voice almost gets Tessa to run back to her landlord and beg for the keys back. 

“I’m sorry, love. I have to go home,” Tessa holds in her own tears. 

“But this is your home,” Elora argues with her. She’s six now, has only grown wiser in her age and Tessa can’t even fight back. 

“I’m sorry,” is all she can manage to say. 

Tessa stands up and turns around. “Tess!” Elora screams and Tessa just keeps walking. 

She gets in the car and watches Ellie cry on the steps. Scott comes up behind the small girl and puts his hands on her shoulders. He looks at Tessa. 

“Tess?” her mom says from the drivers’ seat. 

“Just drive,” Tessa speaks and her voice sounds dead. 

Her mom puts the car in reverse and backs out of the driveway. Tessa doesn’t let herself cry until they hit the highway. She sobs, hyperventilates and has to ask her mom to pull over so she can throw up on the side of the road. 

~

It’s gotten better. She’s back from tour, has settled nicely into her London home. She’s starting to become happier. 

Sponsors have been in contact with her left, right, and center. She’s been picking up small fashion gigs here in there, has become a representative for a few beauty campaigns. She keeps herself busy and surrounds herself with family. 

She’s in Toronto when it happens. 

Tessa’s been in the city the past few days, fulfilling interview obligations and attending a few events here and there. 

She’s in the Eaton Center, shopping in Aritzia and browsing through the rows and rows of expensive clothes she has no intention buying. 

“Tessa!” she hears her name being called and turns her head to the entrance of the store. Elora’s standing there, looking so much older than the months before when Tessa saw her last. When she left the girl sobbing on the steps of her home. 

Tessa almost drops the shirt she’s holding and runs to Ellie. She pulls her into a hug and holds on so tight. “Oh my gosh, Ellie.”

“I can’t believe it’s you!” Elora exclaims, her words muffled against Tessa’s shirt. “I told dad we’d come back to you.”

Her heart snaps and it’s like the months of progress she’s been making is washed away by the words of a six (or is she seven now?) year old girl. “I missed you,” is all Tessa says. 

“I missed you too! Daddy misses you. I see him looking at your skates sometimes,” Elora speaks excitedly and Tessa inhales sharply. 

She’s about to ask if she’s lying when she sees Scott looking frantically through the crowds of people. “Did you run from your dad?”

Elora bites her lip. “Uhm, maybe?” Tessa gives her a sharp look. “I’m sorry! I thought I saw you and I wanted to be sure.”

Tessa sighs, looks up and sees Scott’s found her and Elora. He rushes over and pulls Ellie in when he gets to them. “Don’t scare me like that,” he says and relief is dripping in his voice. 

“I’m sorry,” Elora pouts. “I just wanted to see Tess.”

Scott looks up and locks eyes with Tessa. Her breath is stolen and no, it wasn’t the words Ellie spoke that washed away her progress, but rather the brown eyes swirling with hints of green and gold that crash into her like tidal wave. 

“Hi,” he says. 

She smiles and waves. “Hey.”

“Do you, uh,” he coughs. “Do you maybe want to walk around with us?”

Tessa’s shocked by the offer. Her eyes widen and she just blinks at him like he’s grown a second head. He clears his throat and she shakes herself out of her stare. “Uh, yeah. Sure, yeah.”

Elora jumps happily and grabs Tessa’s hand. Starts talking about wanting to go to the Disney store and find an Elena dress because _her first name and her last name put together sound like Elora_. Tessa tries not to think about how she’s never heard Ellie talk about this Elena character. Tries not to clue into the fact that she’s been gone for so long that Elora’s got these new interests that Tess knows nothing about. 

It’s three hours later when they finally finish up at the mall. They get on the subway and it’s such a fucking funny coincidence that him and Elora are staying at the same hotel as Tessa.

They look so domestic. Elora’s sat between them, has cuddled up to Tessa’s side and curled her feet up to rest on Scott’s thigh. Tess wraps and arm around her and holds her like she has so many times on the sectional in Scott’s family room. 

Scott carries Elora through the station and to their hotel. She fell asleep halfway between the Eaton Center and Younge-Bloor. It isn’t a long ride so she must’ve been exhausted. 

It’s dark outside but the city’s still busy. Tessa glances beside her to see Scott holding Elora and it warms her heart. Like this she can see how big the girl has gotten. Remembers when Tessa could hold her the same way Scott is, but now Tess doesn’t think she could. 

They get to the hotel and ride the elevator quietly. It’s not like they haven’t talked this whole time. He’s asked her about her sponsors and she’s asked him about Gadbois. Has learned the French are asking for him to be their coach. She learns he’s denied them. Is taking a break from coaching. 

“Could you open the door?” Scott asks Tessa when they get to his hotel room. She nods. “Thanks. Key is in my pocket,” he gestures to his leg and keeps Ellie in his grip. 

She reaches in and is careful where she grazes her fingers. Pulls out the green card and swipes it through the lock on the door. The light flickers green and she pushes it open. Lets Scott and Elora through before following suit. 

“Tess,” Ellie grumbles and opens her eyes tiredly. 

“Yes, bug?” Tessa replies and comes up to brush the hair out of her face. 

“Can you stay?” and her heart drops. 

“Uh-”

“You need a bath, love,” Scott says as he places her on the edge of the bed. 

Elora’s eyes light up. “Can Tess help with the bath?”

Scott sighs but Tessa speaks up before he can protest. “Of course.”

He turns to look at Tessa but she just smiles. Shrugs and tries to communicate with her face that it’s no big deal. That she’d give her left arm to have more time with Ellie (and Scott, but… no one asks her about that). 

Elora jumps off the bed and digs through her suite case, pulls out a pair of pajamas and a Ziploc bag with her bath supplies. “Let’s go!” she pulls on Tessa’s hand and drags her to the bathroom. 

She’s transported back in time. Remembers those nights so many months ago when she’d help Elora in the bath while Scott cleaned up from dinner. Thinks of how domestic tonight has been and how she wants every day of her life to be like this. 

Scott watches them from the door, a smile consistently settling on his lips. She glances up at him whenever Elora makes a joke or snide comment and he laughs with her. Tessa can’t help but feel proud of the little girl Ellie’s growing up to be. She reminds herself she doesn’t deserve that pride. 

“Look, Tess, look!” Ellie’s been jumping around the hotel the past 20 minutes as Scott’s been trying to get her ready for bed. Tessa had brushed her hair and braided it tightly. Elora had stated how she missed Tessa’s braids and Tessa flat out said how she missed Ellie. “Look!” Elora pulls out a blue book from her bag and Tess inhales sharply. 

“Where have you been hiding that?” Scott laughs from where he’s sitting on the other bed beside Tessa. 

Elora doesn’t say anything, just sticks her tongue out at him and settles in Tessa’s lap. Tess opens the book and reads to her. Reads about the mother and her son. Sings the song to her softly. By the last time the song is sung, Ellie’s asleep in her arms. 

“I love you forever, I like you for always. As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be,” Tessa sings into the girl’s ear. She closes the book, stands up off the bed and tucks Ellie under the covers. Pulls the duvet up to her chin and kisses her on the forehead. 

“Tess,” Scott murmurs from the other bed. She looks at him and he looks forlorn. “Can you, uh. Can we talk?”

She nods and follows him out into the hallway of the hotel. They’re on the fourth floor and the hall is quite empty. He paces in front of her and she just leans against the wall. “I’m sorry if I over stepped.”

Scott snaps his head up to look at her, stops in front of where she’s standing. “No, no. Tess,” he sighs. “You did not over step. I think you made my daughter the happiest girl in the world tonight.”

Tessa smiles. “Okay. I’m glad. I’ve missed her.”

“She’s missed you too.”

Tessa challenges him with her eyes. “And what about you, Scott?”

He blinks at her, takes in her words like she’s just told him the meaning of life. “What do you want me to say, Tess?”

“The truth.”

Scott starts to pace again. It stresses her out. “Okay. I’ve missed you,” she gasps. “I’ve missed you so fucking much. I think about you every time I go to the rink or even step foot in my house. I think about you when Elora looks at me with the saddest eyes and asks when you’re coming back. I think about you whenever the local moms hit on me at the playground and I turn every single one of them down because what would you think?”

She bites her lip raw. Takes in his words. “I’m sorry.”

“You’ve slotted yourself into every aspect of my life and I can’t fucking shake you,” Scott practically whimpers. She’s only seen him cry once. It was after the Olympics when she got a quiet moment with him in the back of the arena. When he pulled her in and she felt his tears hit her shoulder. They weren’t Tessa and Scott ex-fuck buddies who maybe fell in love each other and slowly killed each other by doing so. In that moment they were just Tessa and Scott. A coach and a skater who worked so hard the past two years to get to this moment. 

“I’m sorry,” she cries out, reaches for him and he lets her hold onto his arm. 

“She hid that book,” Scott says. “Love You Forever. She never reads it without you there. You’re fucking crazy if you don’t think you mean something to her. To us. To me. Fuck, Tessa. I love you but you’re crazy if you think I don’t want you in every way possible.”

Tessa grips his arm. And did he just say _I love you_? “Scott. I love you.”

He pulls her in, kisses her and it’s everything. She kisses back, snakes her tongue into his mouth and tries to take everything from him. He’s always given her so much and she’s just taken. “I love you,” he says against her mouth and that’s Tessa’s favourite taste. 

Tessa laughs, giggles like a fucking school girl and pecks his lips once, twice, three times.

~

Tessa wakes up the next morning and sees the back of Scott’s head. She smiles and inhales deeply. Wraps her arm around his waist and kisses the back of his neck. She’s wearing one of his shirts and a pair of his boxers and she thinks she’s never been happier.

Scratch that. When she turns around and sees Elora staring at her with this soft smile on her face, that’s when she decides she’s never been happier. She realizes that Ellie’s holding the orange triceratops in her arms that Tessa got her two years ago. 

“Come here,” Tessa whispers because it’s too early to be speaking at a normal volume. 

Elora scrambles out of the other bed and climbs up to settle herself in between Tessa and Scott. She looks so happy and it warms Tessa inside and out. And as much as she loves Scott she loves this little girl just as much. 

Scott grumbles and rolls over to face the two girls. “I think we have an intruder,” he whispers. Elora giggles. 

“I heard the only way to get rid of her is by tickling her,” Tessa whispers back, plays along with Scott’s game. 

“Interesting,” Scott hums. Elora’s frozen in the middle of the bed, acting as if she really isn’t there. Scott quickly brings his hands up and tickles her sides. Ellie screams and wiggles around. Tessa grabs her foot and tickles the bottom of it. 

“No!” Ellie screeches through the giggle ripping from her throat. “Don’t!” she yells but keeps laughing. 

Scott stops and Tessa kisses her cheek. And yeah. This is the happiest she’s ever been. 

~

She laughs when Scott tells her an hour later that Elora and him moved back to Ilderton a few weeks before. She doubles over when she finds out that Scott planned the trip to Toronto after running into Kate and hearing all the plans Tessa had set up. She cries when she finds out that Scott’s been chasing after her since she left his door step in Montreal. 

She smiles when she’s settled on Scott’s leather sectional again, catching up on Elena of Avalor and holding Elora. Tessa thinks Elora could be 25 and Tessa would still hold her like this. She tells Scott that and he challenges her, says Ellie could be 26 and she’d still hold her. Tessa’s stomach flip flops when she realizes he wants her for that long. 

She tears up when Elora first calls her mom. It’s in passing but it isn’t missed.

“Oh my gosh, mom, stop!” Elora whines when Tessa shows up at her skating competition with a huge banner that says _Go Ellie Go!_. Tess freezes and Scott inhales sharply beside her. “Love you,” Ellie runs off and gives Tess and Scott a kiss on each of their cheeks. 

She can feel Scott’s hand tight on the back of her neck. She turns to look at him. “Is that okay?” she asks through her tears. 

Scott grins. “I’ve been waiting for her to say it since you first gave her that stupid dinosaur.”

She screams when he proposes. It’s stupid and unexpected. She’s in the Ilderton Skate Club watching Elora skate expertly around the boards. She’s so big now, has been scouted by so many coaches and clubs to have her come join them. Scott suggested sending her off to Canton and Tessa slapped him. 

The lights flicker off and a spotlight is shone in the middle of the ice where Scott is kneeling and holding out a box. He locks eyes with her and she screams. It’s just like the one she let out when they won in PyeongChang. She says yes, of course she does. Couldn’t imagine a life where Scott doesn’t invade her thoughts at every moment of the day. 

She trips when she walks down the aisle. Scott doubles over laughing and Elora hits his arm. Tessa can’t help put shake her head and smile. A grin permanently plastered on her face as she walks towards her future. Towards the love of her life and his daughter. _Her daughter_. 

She goes through so many emotions and reactions and she does it all with Scott by her side. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The children's book Tessa reads to Elora throughout the series is called Love You Forever by Robert Munch and if you are a Canadian kid you know this book. I would take a look if you haven't read it because my grown ass still cries.


End file.
